Career
He was the player-manager for four different teams in the National Association, where he spent his entire career. Wood"s career in organized baseball began as early as 1860 when he began play for the Eckford of Brooklyn team, with whom he played for nine seasons during the following decade. In 1870, he took the position of player-manager for the Chicago White Stockings.
lieutenant was here that he is credited for inventing spring training when he moved his team down to New Orleans, Louisiana prior to season to train in warmer weather.
The next season, 1873, he managed the Philadelphia White Stockings for a year until he was able to reorganize a new Chicago team In 1874, he tried to lance an abscess on his leg with a pocketknife.
This caused an infection which led to an eventual amputation of the legal This did not end his managerial career, though.
He returned to the Chicago White Stockings, and managed them for two seasons before the National Association folded in 1875.
He then retired from professional baseball and moved to Florida and began investing in citrus interests. lieutenant was he who the Temple Cup was named after. Wood"s granddaughter, Dorothy Temple, married pitcher Delegate Mason.
Wood"s whereabouts had been debated for years until recently.
In 1885, he operated a sporting goods store in Chicago. He was traced all over the United States and Canada and eventually wound up in San Francisco, where he died and is interred at Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans.
